Alternatives to packaged valentines

I’m not really a fan of pre-packaged cards, invitations….or valentines.  As I have more kids and less time, I am tempted to give up on this conviction.  Key word: tempted.

This year, PJ opted for homemade paper hearts again.  We purchased this kit on a whim last year right before Valentine’s Day.  After slaving over 15 homemade paper hearts, I let PJ scribble some red on each one and slap a computer-printed label that read “Happy Valentine’s Day…Love, PJ.”  When he wanted to re-live the project this year, I cringed until I realized we would have plenty of time with 2 feet of snow coming. 

Live and learn. Things we did differently this year:

1. Ditched the hand blender for the kitchen blender.  This made for a much smoother pulp and, therefore, a smoother finished product.
2. Ditched the time-consuming, not-so-effective screws on the press.  Instead, we just used the too hard surfaces and our weight to press the paper.
3. Tried to add red color.  We used gel food coloring.  While it stained the counter, the water, and our clothes, the gray newspaper remained…well, gray.

 Mia opted to take my recommendation for edible valentines.  We have an awesome sugar cookie recipe that we use to make cookies for every known event and/or holiday that has a cookie cutter.  I thought it would be cute to make large heart cookies and deliver them in CD sleeves (the paper kind with the cellophane window).

I’ll be honest.  We haven’t done this particular cookie-making yet, but I wanted to share in time for you to use it with your family.  The pictures are from recent cookie making extravaganzas.

Here’s the recipe…

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened  (I repeat…unsalted.)
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 TBS light corn syrup
1 TBS vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, mix the flour and salt.  In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar.  Stir in the egg, then the corn syrup and vanilla extract.  One third at a time, add the four mixture until thoroughly mixed.  Pat the dough into a ball.  

I am usually able to roll out this dough without refrigerating it.  It’s actually too hard if you refrigerate it for too long.  We roll it between two sheets of parchment paper to prevent it from sticking to the pin and to avoid having to add extra flour which toughens the dough.

Use a large heart-shaped cutter to shape dough and decorate as desired.  Bake at 375 until golden brown (about 12 minutes).